Poster

Photographs from Enlisting a Nation

Photographs of the posters from the Enlisting a Nation exhibit. Well‐known illustrators of the time were engaged to create pictures that would be displayed across the nation urging recruitment, purchase of war bonds or saving food to help in the war effort. These beautiful, yet idealized, visions of what America was supposed to represent, successfully manipulated the thoughts and emotions of the American public between April 1917 and November 1918, with thousands of designs that would be emblazoned on walls, streetcars and in window displays. Messages on the placards implied patriotism for country and rallied support from the populace. Backing for the war was quickly expressed by most within the general population.